Mysteria Online
by rickygk
Summary: Was Kirito the first person to be pulled into a virtual world where the stakes were as high as death itself? Or are games being used for mass murder? Kenza Ikedaro is a young teenager interested in the world of VR and loves video games, but when one game gets more real than fun, the stakes are higher than ever, with the highest price of losing, being eternal slumber.
1. Open World

**Chapter One**

Blood dripped from the back side of my arm as a long, glowing sword hacked through it. Suddenly, all I could feel was pain spreading throughout my body, but particularly hurtful at the back of my left arm.

I thought to myself how far technology had come, how we have VRGs already, and how the pain felt immensely real. The only thing that kept me from losing my mind was that the pain _wasn't_ real; it was only virtual, and felt so.

I only had a moment to react after I was cut, so my right hand quickly went for the heavy blade around my waist and pulled it out of the heavy sheath. The beautiful black blade glistened in the sunlight and soon came down on my victim.

I watched the young man who tried to end me fall to the ground and collapse, soon bursting into a million pieces and vanishing from view. My health was down at its lowest, so I fished around my inventory for a HP potion, and swished it in my mouth before sending it down my throat. I couldn't describe the feeling of having full health, it greatly increases you vitality and makes you feel superior, as opposed to having lower HP.

"Kenza," I heard my username being called out by a high, masculine voice. I turned around and saw my friend, Kano, running towards me with his dagger.

"Sorry, I couldn't make it here in time Kenza, are you hurt?" he briefly asked.

"Not anymore, thanks Kano."

Kano was a good buddy of mine. We met around seven months ago during the beta test, and we partied and fought monsters all the time. We usually played at the same time since we both lived in the same time zone, but sadly, we never met in reality, as I was a shut in. A year ago, I departed myself from reality to 'waste my time' on video games and the technological world.

It all started when my father learnt that mother had been cheating on him with a rich playboy. Once he found out, they divorced, and she left to be with a rich brat, while my father took care of us, children, tirelessly, up until a year ago. I didn't really mind that I was a child with only one parent, but now, I miss that parent very much. A year ago my father had heart failure, and was on the verge of death. The only way the doctors could see him living was to give him a Diavana shot, which was a new, untested, pharmaceutical, and it had a success rate of twenty percent. Without it, my father would lose his life for sure, so he took the shot, smiling as he passed out into a deep coma.

To this day he lies alive in the hospital, healthy as could be, but his mind is in a coma, and his body is paralyzed on a hospital bed, which was too much for a boy of 15 to swallow, so I departed from reality into online gaming, leaving my worried brother to fend for himself.

Online gaming took my focus away from what was happening in the real world, and put it into a virtual world where almost anything was possible.

Just recently VRMMORPGs and other VR's had been created, and were ready for playing, so there was another thing to take my attention off earth. That's where I found out about, 'Mysteria Online' or 'MO' which was a VRMMORPG developed by TerraKey, and it was playable on a headset device called the 'BitGrapher'. The aim of the game was to clear all 100 stages and defeat the bosses throughout the dungeons, whilst building your character up with stronger gear and weaponry.

There were 5 different types of attack frames a character could attain, each frame would develop your character by giving it different skills and abilities and more attack ability. To my knowledge, boosting frames up was incredibly difficult, and not even one out of the one thousand beta testers could get to the second frame.

The cap for levels was 100 and the maximum level reached in the beta test was 23, while the maximum stage reached was only 7. Different classes were available in the game, but they were all close ranged classes. There was nothing such as an archer or any type of ranged class that had 100% accuracy, it would make it far easier to hide undetected and kill any mob.

All classes were heavy or light wielding types. There were no magic based classes available in the game, despite the game's name, and classes could only be chosen at the beginning of the game, but they do not define what type of player you could become, they would only influence your initial stats, then they could be changed to your liking depending on what path you choose.

My goal was to make it to at least stage 50 and get to frame 3, but that all changed after a devastating incident on the 5th day of the game's release..

* * *

 **This is the 'rant zone' where I usually depict my thoughts about the story and its progress, unnecessary to read if you want to skip a bunch of worries and thoughts about the story.**

 **This is basically the intro. Kenza, is enjoying the new world of Mysteria. Seems like SAO so far but do trust that it will be very, very different. Please leave feedback and ideas. Thank you.**


	2. Shut In

**Chapter Two**

Kano looks at me slightly amused.

"Err, Kenza, you know it's midnight back home right?"

I usually sleep before midnight, so it was kind of peculiar for me to be online at this time of night, so I decided to log off; I was probably on for longer than expected due to the opening ceremony event. I didn't want to miss a day full of free items and equipment.

"Alright Kano, you have fun, I'm logging off now."

Kano seemed tired too, so we both open the game menu and touch Log Out but it seems unresponsive, we try it again with no success.

"Must be a bug."

Kano looked at his menu with fear; he once told me that if his mother caught him awake after midnight, he'd be banned from video games for a week.

"Just wait a while, I'm sure it will work eventually." I say uncertainly.

I repeatedly tap the log out button, still unsuccessful at logging me off. This sort of bug was odd, and it sent a chill down my spine.

Suddenly I saw Kano vanish, and a faint "Got it!" came from his direction, I'd figured he would be able to log off eventually, and so would I, so I kept jabbing the button and next thing I know, I was being transported to another part of the game. I felt my muscles tensing as I hit the ground hard with my legs.

I was in a portion of the game that was only unfinished code, I could see different types of coding written everywhere, scripts and other grids written and drawn in perfect green lines. The world was dark, and cold.

Words I couldn't understand in my wildest dreams were scraped along the digital arena, and the gridlines tore through the vast emptiness in the room, swallowing the players within an aura of misery. If this was a game event, it sure was spooky.

I stood in the middle of all of it, as players emerged from the darkness and appeared randomly out of nowhere. I take a glance to look for Kano, in spite of believing him to be offline, but I couldn't find anyone resembling him, so I reassured myself by checking the friends list, where he was shown to be offline, so I guess that he made it out.

For the next few minutes, all I hear is;

"Where are we?"

"What happened?"

"Why can't I log out?"

I try to remain calm, but others panicking starts to make me doubt my stand. I inspect the area, then look at my main menu; there are around 9,999 players in this area, so I am willing to bet that we are the 10,000 players that can't log off.

I tried to use my teleport function, but that seemed to be disabled temporarily, any town return scrolls were unusable as well. We wait several minutes; some people decided to make conversation with other players and consult them with what was happing at the moment.

"I believe that this is one of the opening ceremony events!"

I hear someone exclaim.

I sat there quietly waiting, not talking or opening up to any stranger around me. A message in green text popped up in front of everybody, it read,

"Players, check your inbox. – C"

Almost immediately after, a message appears in my inbox. Shuffling through the game menu, I see people who had already read the message traumatized and in disbelief, I wondered what was in the message. When I finally found the message, I started reading it slowly.

"Players, do you remember the name Corporal? It doesn't matter if you know me or not, all that matters is what I'm about to tell you, so listen closely. TerraKey has lost connection to all your BitGraphers, and so you are unable to log out, unable to get back to your original bodies back in the real world because that connection belongs to me now. I have connection to all of your miserable bodies and I will not send you back home. Call it revenge; call it whatever you want but all that matters now is escape. The only way to get out of the game is to finish the game, and defeat the boss on the top level, hahaha,"

Some notable scribbles were drafted onto the message, I didn't know if they were symbols or notation, but it sure wasn't any type of code.

I continued reading the message,

"Sounds easy enough, all that you will require is time right? Wrong. If you die in the game, you will be permanently stuck in the game, the BitGrapher will recognize you as a game entity, and you will be deleted immediately, forever. An unrecoverable coma will take over your living body until you die of hunger or any other method. So good luck my dear players, and forgive me for being so harsh on you.

-C."

I only realized after I'd finished reading the message, that my mouth was wide open. I try to remember who or what Corporal was, I've heard it before, somewhere. Until it hit me,

Corporal Adams was a software engineer for TerraKey back before the actual game of MO released. He was one of the top coders of MO and he had built most of the game with a few of his colleagues, until he was wrongfully fired from TerraKey for adding secret equipment and additional bonus stages to the game without anyone's consent, I believe he was also sued, and the company continued to use all his assets and development entities.

I recall reading in the newspaper that the company wasn't able to find the secret items he hid in the game, and so they left it there as part of the actual game. I wouldn't usually be in this much shock, as it would probably be a lie or a 'troll', but this man designed the server of MO, and the receptors that connect the mind to MO, so there was always belief that he could have hacked the server and disconnected our BitGraphers from the server, so that we were stuck in the game until we cleared the game, and upon clearing the game the servers would force connect everyone to their BitGraphers so that they could be automatically logged off.

It made sense. His whole theory made sense, and it terrified me. I am lost in a video game, and if I cannot finish the game, I am just a script, a code, that could be deleted permanently if I virtually died.

I hear immense amounts of cussing and swearing in the background of my thoughts; people argued between each other the reliability of the message. I couldn't be bothered; I had already made up my mind to finish the game.

Only now could I clearly see that I had a brother back home that must be worried sick about me, and I was not about to enter an eternal coma, my brother could not have two family members in a coma. No matter what, I must survive, and I _must_ win.

* * *

 **Okay so I decided to post the second chapter as well. It's going to be fast paced, that's certain. I'm branching the paths now, Kano, Kenza, and a few others will have seperate outcomes. I'm not certain what I might do with the abilities of the main character, since I am taking references from many of the RPG and MMORPG games I played, I hope it can have a realistic sort of system where the players actually have to control the abilities they have in coordination with their class, and maybe, special abilities? Please leave reviews and comments 3 - Ricky**


	3. Red Riding Hood

**Chapter Three**

We were all prisoners in this world, prisoners to a mad hacker, who has no real reason to be doing such a terrible thing, but that is the reality, he is doing this to us, he is keeping us in this mighty time bomb that will go off at any moment of the day. We can either fight and win, or fight and lose, but we still had to try.

My body was paralyzed at the moment, I couldn't feel my legs, and goose bumps were visible on my skin. Right after everyone read the message, the teleportation scrolls were enabled once again, and everyone teleported out.

The rage these people must feel was easy to understand. We were prisoners. Correction. We _are_ prisoners, and anyone who thinks otherwise will get themselves killed on the same day. I can already think see people committing suicide, and others fighting for freedom, for glory. Just scenarios in my head.

"Mysteria," I mutter, "What a convenient name for such a complication."

I was the only one who was still here, or at least in sight, others probably thought that there was no time to waste, that they must fight and get out of this hell hole. I check my menu, on the bottom it says that there are two players present in the current area, one must be me, so who is the other, I wondered.

I saw them; a player wearing a scarlet red hood brushed past me, and stood only a few feet from me, stationary.

Her quiet voice could easily be detected as a female voice, as she said to me,

"Shouldn't you be heading out yet?"

I hadn't talked to many people after the incident with 'Corporal', so it took me a few minutes to remember how to use my voice, which was lost this whole time.

"Yeah, I'm just a little startled, I'll see you in the city."

I didn't give her a choice to respond as I departed immediately using a teleport scroll, soon finding myself in the nearest town, named 'Kyullias', which was crowded with people who had tried to calm down and end their immense frustration, to begin thinking of plots and strategies to finish the game.

The girl appeared again, coincidentally right next to me. I notice her long black hair emerging out of the red hood. The colors looked extravagant.

"Hello again."

Her calm voice chilled me all over. Was she stalking me for mere prey? I didn't think so, as the PvP function was not enabled in towns. You were completely safe from monsters, and players. I was afraid of this now. Being stalked for prey. Prior to the message I would have slain anyone, I think it's pretty fun to be a murderer or be evil in a video game, but this isn't a video game anymore, what if someone tries to slaughter me? Thoughts crossed through my head until I was interrupted by a cough from the same girl. I realized I hadn't really introduced myself, let alone greeted her.

"Hi." I forced out.

She didn't reply; instead, she just turned around and walked the opposite way, towards the inn where everyone is able to heal and rest. I was ready to end the day too, it's been a long day, and it would be best to be prepared for the training I'd have to accomplish the following day.

I wake up hoping that everything I had remembered was only a dream, but as my eyes focus on the room, it is still the same dusty, digital inn I was staying at yesterday. I take a look at my HP. Near the full red bar of Hit points was a double digit, bold number, reading 17, that was the level I was at the very moment, and a low level like 17 would stand no chance against the first stage boss, so it was time to party with a few people.

I get out of bed and brush my teeth, wondering why I'm doing so, since it is a video game, but I continue either way, and am finished readying up for the day with my heavy blade and my dagger to my side.

I accidentally nick myself touching the tip of my sharp dagger. It was a circular blade, which was very strange for a dagger, but was razor sharp from each end through to the circumference. A yellow glow of some sort of paint is rubbed onto the gritted middle, where engravings are carved through the steel, or whatever substance it is. My finger hurts, just like it would in reality. Reality makes me think of something else, and I wonder whether they'd sell this back home.

What a mistake. Images of home show up in my imagination, a blurry, phased picture of my old house appears in my mind. Blurry. Already fading away. Huh? How can it be so hard to remember reality already? I wonder wh-

~Beep Beep~ "You have a new notification!"

I hear the annoying buzz of sound from my inbox. Apparently I've new mail. No idea who from, but I sustain opening it since I'm already late for the 'First Boss Meet.' Or whatever they're calling it. I rush out the inn to the main square of Kyullias.

A meeting is to be held today on how we will take down the boss of stage one, but before I attend, I planned on purchasing supplies, but I didn't know how much I could purchase with only 5000 Qual, which is the international currency used around Mysteria. I could easily get the necessities, like HP potions, maybe a few return scrolls and a new blade. I used a sort of combination of two weapons, where I dual wield. I'm equipped with a peculiar looking dagger and in my dominant hand I wield a 'different' type of weapon. It's something of a mix between a Katar and a Katana, but shorter, and much thicker. I don't really know what to call it to be honest, the name of the weapon in the game is called, 'Damascus Blade,' but there's no trace of what 'type' of weapon it is. I ponder my thoughts for a minute and decide to call it a 'Katara'.

Eventually I find myself at the meeting. I fiddle with some of the new supplies in my inventory, and doing so, unconsciously take a seat on the huge marble stairs near a statue of.. a dragon?

I looked up at the strange statue. It looked something like a dragon, but more like a lizard. A faint orange tint of paint glistened through the cracks in the statue. It looked old but expensive, maybe I ought to steal it? Thievery in this game pays very well, and is fun. Hmmm..

I could swear I've seen it before, years ago in my youth. Maybe on a playing card?

Once again my thoughts are interrupted, this time by some heavily armored players. They stood in the middle of the large room and begin to explain decent strategies, I focus on what they say but keep my sight lined with a golden fountain with jewels on its side and lovely, ocean blue water dripping from its top. Another target for me to steal perhaps. I lose my attention when the hooded girl from the previous day takes a seat, close to the stair I sit on, just a few steps higher.

I watch as she positions herself on one of the marble stairs and then slides a long, thin blade on the brown leather sheath she was equipped with. Her brownish golden hair was hidden by her bloody red hood, but a few strands were visible to the public. I resumed listening to the lecturers.

A lean, yet muscular man went in the middle, and he started exclaiming, "All you beta testers please stand up and come over here so that you can help us strategize to kill the boss!"

Beta testers are notorious for having excess information on games as they have played it beforehand, but in many games they are loved, many of them help new players out either with a loan or old equipment they no longer use. Few of them become info-dealers, and make a ton of in game money by dealing information to boost their character gear and level miles upward. It's actually pretty genius, but it's been in the trade since forever.

"Any beta testers here?" the man continued.

I thought about standing up and joining the main battle planners, but in the end, I stayed put, and only a few beta testers actually step up to help the cause. Beta testers would be extremely useful now that this game is a death game, and players could coordinate with the general public players to create strategies to win each stage. It was not a bad plan at all. A spark of hope lit within me as I continued to listen carefully at the different strategies being bumped around. Eventually the strategies became better and better and finally the new found guilds agreed on multiple decisive set strategies.

The meeting came to a close with applause and cheerfulness, it was decided that tomorrow we are going to clear the first stage and move on to the next, and players must have thought that they would be one step closer to clearing the game, but the few that weren't smiling or laughing, were the ones that knew that it would be a tough challenge, that includes the mysterious girl and I.

There was no knowing what would happen past the grand doors, for even beta testers wouldn't know what would be there, as anything can change if the developers want it to. So we will just have to wait and see.

I deeply try to recall what the first boss was in the beta. A twisted image of a hammer wielding mutant clouds my imagination, and I stop thinking about it. The name comes to me though, "Merano the Accursed."

I spot the girl still sitting on the marble stair, I decide to walk up to her and ask for a party, since she's pretty much the only one I've talked to since the game had begun. Along with Kano that is. Hmph. Lucky guy.

"Hello there." She greeted before I even reached her completely.

"Um, hi..," I tried to get a look at her face, but she kept her line of sight downward, and the hood darkened the shadow covering her light colored skin.

"Boss rooms are difficult." I sputter, not knowing what I was thinking.

I feel embarrassed that I said something so stupid, but the giggle that comes in reply makes me blush.

"Captain Obvious. Haha. Would you like to party… Mr. Obvious?"

"Call me Kenza. Miss..? I try to get a name without directly asking for it. I find that very awkward for some reason.

"Aria, you can call me Aria, Captain!"

"It's Kenza!" I exclaim.

She ignores my ranting and opens up her menu hastily, fidgeting with the buttons, and seconds later, I see a blue floating square asking me to a party with user Aria, which I accept gratefully.

"Say, Mr Obvious..,"

I cut her off with a stupid, "Yes?"

"You looked different the other day I saw you, why is that?"

I try to contemplate what she's saying. I looked different? How?

"Maybe take a look in the mirror?" she squeaks.

I pace myself to the closest place I could see a reflection, the gigantic fountain in the middle of the room, taking a detailed look at what I was seeing. My avatar had been replaced with my original black hair, my imperfect eyebrows are the same as they are back home. I take a look at my hands, the complexion changed from a somewhat twenty year old male to a sixteen year old boy.

"How have I not noticed this?" I mutter to myself.

I take another quick glance at the blue reflective water and see my black hair, short as usual, rather than the blondish gold hair I'd had opted for my avatar.

I recall seeing Aria for the first time, realizing that not only my avatar had changed to my original appearance, but so had hers. I figured this as I remember seeing her hair for the first time as wavy black, even I couldn't forget that through the hood she keeps on her. A perfect nickname comes to mind.

"Seems that we all look like a regular selves now, rather than our avatars. I guess it's because the BitGrapher uses memories to restore us to our original selves." She babbles.

"You're pretty smart, Aria, here, take this.."

I hand her a red, crescent shaped jewel, it looks like a sort of carved ruby, or a discolored sapphire, but it looks very beautiful, and matches her red hood.

"Aww, that's beautiful," she exclaims, "Wherever did you get it?" she asks sarcastically, whilst pointing to the middle of the fountain top where a gap fitting a crescent shape is hollow, as if it'd been stolen.

"I did it for you though, Aria, now you can truly be, 'Red Riding Hood.'"

A bit of unintentional laughter escapes me as she goes tomato red,

"Hey!" she exclaims.

I can remember the laughter of both of us in that empty hall as everything goes black.

The day ended just as fast as it began, and there was nothing to do but wait.

I turn over to my side and try not to snore.

* * *

 **I hope chapter three was the most interesting out of the three. I believe things are going to get interesting here on out. Captain Obvious got you! Please leave reviews and comments to let me know how the story is thus far! Pretty please! - Ricky**


	4. Reality Check

**Chapter Four**

I barely got any sleep.

While Aria was locked in her inn room, I was training for seven hours straight.

You could call it determination or addiction, but either way, it would help me get out of this prison cell.

In the 'real world' power is money, law, and order, but in Mysteria, power is levels, and stats and without them, you're as good as dead.

So I'm pretty sure I gained a few while I was training, I took a quick glance and saw a bold 23 near my HP bar, which was near to empty, things like that happen when you run out of potions and the monster chasing you has a higher speed rate than yourself.

I took a swig at a few premium health potions and achieved full health, my stats had greatly increased since yesterday, and my STR stat had make it much easier to hold my 'Katara' and maneuver it around with ease, in spite of its weight. Level 23 isn't great, I think. It was the max level reached in the beta which lasted 10 days though, so I have made hasty progress in these six days.

Six days. It's been six days since I've left my bed, since I've walked around in my house. I feel tears creep out of my eye sockets, but I don't let them persist. I can't think about how the real world is doing right now, or I may never make it back to it. So I hastily buckle my dagger to the side of my belt and rush to the nearest river by the beautiful meadow. The sparkly cold water feels amazing on my face, washing away the tiniest tears as if they were never there.

Apparently my playstyle is 'unique' according to Aria. Last night a monster spawned in the town square, one of those event monsters that don't deal significant damage and do only '1' point damage to players, and is incredibly tough to kill, but once ended, drops significantly good equips or consumables. Obviously I rushed to kill it, and my 'move set' she called it, was never seen to her before. She didn't even know what the weapon I wielded was called. Granted, neither did I. No way I'd tell her I call it a 'Katara'. I think about it for a moment, I don't know where I decided to dual wield weapons such as these before. In the beta test I was a tank build, but apparently I wanted to try something different.

Skills are the second most important thing in the world of Mysteria, without them, you won't even be able to hold your weapon.

There are the primary attributes like; STR, DEX, and LUK, and then there were the secondary skills like; Cooking, Appraisal, Detection, One-handed swordsmanship, Two handed swordsmanship, Guard, Pickpocket, Regeneration, Hitman, Thievery, Warcry, Counter Ability, Dual Wield and so on.

As you leveled up, you could unlock more slots to hold the 50+ skills there were available, and been able to choose perks to help develop your skill tree for those particular skills.

At my level, I was able to hold only 4, and to master a certain skill you need to get that skill to level 150.

Only primary stats were boosted by leveling up, while skill points were gained by training a certain skill.

If I wanted to master my One-Handed skill I would just have to go out and fight with a one handed weapon until it boosts up levels, but to master my cooking skill, I would have to cook and create different ingredients, and collect different kitchenware and meats. In other words, it would be really boring for someone like me.

I took a quick look at my tertiary stats; these stats depend on how you play the game and your gear which changes randomly according to your gameplay, these stats include, Agility, Defense (DEF), Movement, and many others.

One of the skills I really wanted, no, needed to attain to be able to beat the game was a special type of skill. 'Hyper Abilities' I remember them being called. These could be either temporary or permanent depending on the skill. They included war cries, battle stances, and increased buffs. I don't really know how to attain those skills, I had never got one in the beta either. Allegedly a video claim stated that if you got one you could deal 9999% damage for 3 seconds.

Doesn't seem like a lot, but you could easily, maybe, two hit a boss or something, if applicable. My mouth watered for such a skill.

I take a swig of some water out of habit, since it restores hit points in this world, then I open up my inbox.

The message I got lingered with a timestamp. 6 days have passed, I can confirm this due to the timestamp. This is how I should be able to keep track of time during the months we will most likely be here.

Oddly enough, it was from Adams.

I read it twice, once out loud, before I gasped with excitement.

"Players of Mysteria Online, let me give you a warm welcome to the grand world of Mysteria. Our earlier 'discussion' was a bit of a shock I can understand, but I do sincerely apologize for all the inconvenience. In return I offer a special reward to a player who completes a quest on the second floor first. The quest is called 'Undeath' and can be spotted with a solve of a riddle. Once taken, the player must complete the quest in twenty four hours upon taking the quest, and only one player out of the 9073 remaining may take it. If it is not completed in twenty four in game hours, or real world hours, then the quest will be available for another player to begin, and the player who failed the quest will not receive any rewards, but will be given a certain amount of Qual depending on how far they progress into the quest. That player will not be able to take the quest again, and will not be able to speak the location of the quest to a friend as it will automatically give you a permanent mute in the game. Please refrain from doing so. The riddle is as follows;"

'What is that, that no man ever yet did see, which never was, but always is to be?'

'At the sound of me, I can make women weep. At the sound of me, men may clap or stamp their feet.'

'I go up, up, and up, and I soar high into the sky, flying my head over the clouds, yet never leave the ground.'

"These riddles will guide the path to this special quest, with a never again attainable reward. I have faith that my players will be able to pass the first gate boss. Good Luck and enjoy Mysteria!"

It's going to be mine, I think to myself.

"9037 players left." I don't hear myself say out loud. Then my thoughts shift to the reward.

Never again attainable? It will be very precious and sell for a fortune, or it might be even better to use it. A Hyper Ability perhaps? I ponder some other options that could be attained by completing this.. 'Undeath' quest, but I am interrupted by a ghastly voice bellowing something in the distance.

"Kzzzahhh!"

I look for where the voice comes from but I cannot find any trace of monsters or mobs.

I quickly brace behind the closest bushes next to me. I poke my leg on one of the thorns on the green bush. It stings, but I ignore the pain in my leg and look out for the sound. So much for my DEF stat being breached by a wild thorn bush.

"Kzzzzzzahhhhh!"

It sounds more aggressive now, I unsheathe my dagger only and wait for the merciless growling to grow louder, or for the deadly creature to show up.

"KAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

I ready myself for the worst, positioning myself in the 'unique' stance I usually do when an unexpected enemy shows up. My dagger is pointed backwards, slightly piercing my skin with its sharp round edge, I feel my blood dripping onto the dagger as a cut starts to form on my wrist. My katara is hidden between my sheathe and my hand, ready for me to pull out immediately and strike relentlessly. The voice echoes in my head, and frightens me, but my eyes dart toward the blurry, quick shadow pacing towards me, faster than ever, until it vanishes midair.

I sigh.

"I must be going mad in this ga-"

"BOO!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I yell loudly, so loudly that I think people all the way back in the town hear me.

"Surprise!" a babbling voice shouts.

My mouth is still open and I find my voice. "I… erm… Ar.. ughh.."

Maybe I don't find my voice, but I do find myself on the ground, a nasty gnash on my wrist, and now my knee, as the dagger lies on the floor with what I presume to be my blood. I see my katara nearby between the bushes I was hiding behind. Thorns scrape it's blade and make a soft scraping noise as it falls to the ground with a metallic 'ting'. I look up once again and swallow."

"Wow Kenza, I didn't know you were such a big baby!"

I don't reply. I can feel my face go red, I try to hide it from the Red Riding Hood standing tall in front of me.

I turn to retrieve my katara and dagger off the floor, covered in blood, it's slippery. It takes a few moments to pick it up off the grassy environment. I finally believe I found my voice.

"You ambushed me!" I exclaim, a little too loudly.

"Obviously it was me! Who else would it be, Captain Obvious," she scoffed, "Didn't you…"

I hear part of her sentence but the rest becomes muffled as I look at Aria.

It's not Red Riding Hood standing in front of me. It's a girl, and she's beautiful. Aria didn't have any red hood on this time. Her long flowing hair, brownish and golden locks flowed with the wind as her face changed expressions whilst talking to my 'autopilot' body.

I could see her eye color for the first time. It was a beautiful shade of blueish green, a sort of light turquoise that I couldn't describe with words. No shadow covered her beautiful white-yet-tanned complexion. Her wavy hair wasn't hybrid black like her avatar, it was her actual hair, which flowed down to the side of her waist, and wrapped itself around her sheath, until she pulled it back and pushed it behind her head.

Her wrist had a small black hairband around it, probably to tie up her hair in certain circumstances. My gaze was shifted back to her eyes as I saw them come just centimeters from mine, why was she so close?

"Hello! Earth to Kenza! Are you ignoring me because I scared you!?" she uttered.

She sounds pissed, so I take the first chance to reply with anything, "No I was just looking at your armor," I blurt, "It's raggedy and torn, and you need better for the boss fight. Luckily I just got some while training."

"Funny. I said.. did you not hear me call your name from half way across the meadow?" she rolls her eyes.

"I really thought you were a monster. Heh heh.." I truthfully say.

"Wow, dummy. At least let me heal all the wounds I've caused you."

Before I can say anything she grabs my hand and pulls out a purple powder from her bag. She throws it on the deep gnashes on my wrist and knee so quickly I barely have time to say, "OWW!"

It stings for a moment but it feels incredibly better afterwards.

I think to myself how I could hear the thorns of the spiky bush scrape against my blade but couldn't hear a high pitched female yell something as basic as my name.

"What is that!?" I questionably exclaim.

"Crushed Fairy Wings," she says almost honestly, until she laughs at my half disgusted, half confused expression.

She walks over to brush the remaining powder off my knee and wrist and who knows what other cuts, "It's actually Healing Essence. I got it from a quest I did this morning." she continued.

"You? You were sleeping right? Your door was locked.." I question.

"You're so naïve. A locked door means I wasn't awake? Dummy. Captain Dummy! I wake up earlier than you!"

I sigh and accept defeat, turning my head as I sigh again. She's cute. She reminds me of someone I knew who cheered me up when I felt down back on Earth. I try to picture 'their' face, but for some reason I come up blank with a name and any features. I do hear the 'person's' voice though which helps me calm down. Why can't I remember details of home? What is happening?

I focus on Aria as she follows a pinkish violet butterfly with her gaze. My eyes follow here graceful movements, and I suddenly don't feel alone in this world anymore. I have a friend. I have Aria. I can't let her die because of my actions, I think, but then I smack myself in the head for acting heroic.

"Here." I hand her a memorizing padded leather armor with scarlet and blue feathers entangled within the stitching. The padding was light but had a balanced weight to it, and the value of the armor was over 14500 Qual, with its potential being an 'Epic' item, due to the additional skill it contains; a special Swift Grace ability. I got the armor fighting some twisted corrupted purple demon boar. Or bear. I don't know what that thing was and I'd rather not remember that ugly beast.

"Wow," she doesn't speak sarcastically or playfully this time, "Kenza.. th.. thank you!" she exclaims gratefully.

She comes and gives me a pat on the head and giggles at my poker face expression, then plants a quick kiss on my cheek and tones on, "Time to go Kenza, I hear the bells ringing. It's almost time for the boss fight."

For some reason I don't hear any bells. My 'Hearing' skill is at 19 and I still don't hear it. Weird, I think to myself.

"I haven't seen you fight yet. Let's see how you do in a battle, Red Riding Hood." I mutter, as I chase her across the gorgeous meadow, past the riverside and into a forest pathway leading to the boss.

* * *

 **Chapter 4 is out. Nothing to add here. Please leave reviews and comments, inbox me too! Thank you! - Ricky.**


	5. The Golden Doors

**Chapter 5**

Moments later, I stood in front of a gigantic, all too familiar door. A carbon copy of the beta test door. The gold rimmed edges of the grand doors gives me hope. If the game still possesses the same door, maybe the boss behind that door is the same one as in the beta.

"Merano the Accursed." Aria's voice beside me proclaims.

I look towards her confused, "You know Merano?"

I don't ask whether she was a beta tester or not, but I'm sure I would have seen her in the beta. Not a lot of people were on at once during the beta, since the servers were delicate, so to speak.

"Yeah. One of my friends played this game before. Maybe you met him, you're a beta tester too right?"

I'm taken aback. How did she figure? Either way I don't feel like unnecessarily lying to her.

"Yeah, I made it pretty high in the beta, but I doubt I knew your friend. I just hope the boss is still Merano." I reply nonchalantly.

She smirks at me and turns her gaze towards a large body of players moving at once behind the pillars of the doorstep. A gateway appears and larger bodies of players emerge from the violet portals that are constantly being summoned.

"What are those portals?" she turns back to me and asks confusedly.

"Those are basically guild portals, when guilds or factions have enough total overall points, they're allowed to use skills to teleport complete guilds or large guild parties to any areas that a guild member is in, so long as they meet the level range."

She continues to stare at me as if I responded in a third world language, so I continue speaking but try to simplify what I just said,

"A guild is basically a faction, a giant party of experienced players that coordinate together to take down bosses, complete quests and tasks, and share loot, to try to grow stronger together. In the beta test, they were pretty much the ones coming up with the strategies for the bosses and stuff."

"Ohh! You should've said so from the start! I'm not Captain Obvious like you Kenza!" she says playfully while sticking her tongue out at me.

I resist the urge to face palm.

I see Aria fidget with the menu button again, I think I see her hit 'Options' and some other menus before a large box reading, 'Guild List' shows up in front of her.

"Take a look at this," she pulls me by my cheek towards the open menu.

"Ow, ow. OW! Okay sheesh." I oblige and take a look at the brown menu box.

A list of guilds that had been created were shown on the face of the menu. There were about three pages, and each page showed six guilds. The highest ranking guild being on top.

I look at the guild name of the highest ranked guild. "Demonocium," I utter.

"That must be them," Aria points to a crowd of heavily armored players in a shade of midnight black, with jet streaks of purple and violet around their arms.

I cross reference the picture of the guild leader with one of the players talking to a large group.

"Yeah that's them alright." I reassure.

"Kyrien," I overhear a masculine voice calmly speak in the background "Will this strategy even work?"

"I doubt it, but you never know till you try." A smug comment comes from Kyrien. He smirks at the direction Aria and I are in and starts to fidget with his menu.

"What an odd guy." I blurt out.

Gladly for me nobody's listening.

Aria finally stops zoning out to tell me, "Get ready, we're beginning."

Seconds later, Kyrien starts to speak loudly, addressing all three of the guilds that are waiting outside the boss door. His own guild, Demonocium, and two others I don't know the name of.

"Hello and welcome all players. I know it has been a rough week for all of us, but we are somewhat retaining control of the situation now. I want to inform you that game suicides are no longer happening, and I have half of my guild trying to help the weak players pass through the game. We will all make it out of her alive, whether that sociopath, Corporal Adams likes it or not,"

A subtle amount of cheering begins, mostly from small parties and an occasional guild member in the crowd.

Kyrien continues his pep talk, "I haven't fully introduced myself yet. I am Kyrien, to those of you who don't know me, I am also one of the three leaders of Demonocium,"

A cough escapes him but he continues on anyway, "I thank all of the three guilds that have come out here to risk their lives in order to help us escape this trap, and we start that journey today, by defeating the first boss. I also thank the small parties that are helping as well. All three of our guilds consists of a small amount of beta testers that have been helping us coordinate and strategize on how to defeat the first boss, and although I am not a beta tester myself, I have full faith in the players who have played the beta version of Mysteria Online,"

He pauses for a moment, taking a deep look at everyone's face. I begin to build a respect for him. He sounds genuine, like he really wants to help these people be free of this torment.

"Behind these large doors lies a beast, names Merano the Accursed. This boss has one thousand attack sequences, and since bosses can be beat only once, we have no idea which sequence he can use, but I warn all of you, even the beta testers, that the sequence is unlikely to be the same one as in the beta test, so be wary. Next, the player who delivers the killing blow of the mob receives all boss drops. With everyone's consent, we have decided that the player who attains these items can do how he sees fit with them. Share them, or use them, or sell them, whatever.

I'm afraid there's nothing more I can say that will help us for the battle to come. Stay strong, and fight brave, for we'll all be home soon!"

Applause came from every end of the forest green area. The claps, cheers and shouts of the people echoed and bounced off the golden large doors. I found myself subconsciously clapping as well.

I listen carefully. I hear strapping of sheathes, unsheathing of swords, blades clanking against each other, mallets smashing the indestructible floor, and other noises I can't make out.

I look at Aria. She's awfully quiet while she readies her weapons and gear up. She catches me staring and snaps her fingers very close to my face, then goes back to readying her gear, including the padded armor I gave her.

Some time passed and I hear bells. This time I could hear them, and that signals the beginning of the battle.

Kyrien walks up to the large grand doors and gives a hard push, but it doesn't budge.

"A little help here?" he scorns.

A few others help him with the door. I see large, bulky players push their hardest to make the door budge but with no success. I focus on a red and black long spear that hangs from the sheathe on Kyrien's back.

Squinting, I can see a dragon emblem on the spear head.

"Stand back" he yells.

He unsheathes the same spear I was so captivated by, and quickly spins in a full circle, grasping the momentum of the wind and I swear I see the dragon emblem on the spearhead glow yellow as he smacks the door hard with the weapon.

'FFTHUMMMMMM!'

With the noise that it made, you'd expect the spear to have broken in half, but that was the contrary, the door actually slammed open hard.

I saw Kyrien slightly grin as we walked into the chamber, accompanied by comrades as large and built as him, if not bigger.

A coordinated gasp escaped almost all the players who walked into the chamber. A humongous horned mutant appeared from behind the door's shadows. It was devastating and hideous. I looked up at its right eye. It had been sown shut and some of the eyelashes were missing. Patches of fur on the beast's face were discolored, and looked terrifying. I had to look straight up to see the one twisted horn emerging from the side of its head. It was gritted and broken, and the other horn had been mutilated all together, as if someone cut it off with a saw. The ugly beast was dysfunctional. The right arm was furry and ginormous, while the left one was small and nearly nonexistent. I could see razor sharp teeth emerge from the monster's mouth. Uneven, sharp claws grazed against the large sword already in his hand. A broken bone, or something that looks like it forced its way out of Merano's shoulder, and purple goop dropped from his leaking tongue.

I barely miss the first swipe that comes, let alone the second, which knocks me straight back all the way to the left side of the chamber door. I begin to regain my posture, and rush towards the area of the beast's leg I see Aria attacking.

'SWIPE'

I dodge a huge slash that comes from the direction of where a few members of Demonocium are attacking.

I finally reach Aria and see her doing super-fast damage to the beast. Her attacks sync so well with each other and her gracefulness is unmatched by anyone here for sure. I grab my dagger and stuff it deep into the giant's leg. That leg goes up and comes back down, almost on top of me. I roll aside and regain my posture once again. My dagger is still stuck in the mongrel's hairy leg.

"Hang on!" I hear Aria yell, as she leaps high into the air and pulls my dagger out with such ease.

"Thanks!" I quickly yell as I leave the leg and go for the arm that is swiping at multiple players.

"OOF!" Kyrien slams straight into my gut and we both hit our heads against the wall.

My HP starts draining quickly, and it takes me a second to find my potion and drink.

I pace back to the front of the boss, his arm comes down once more, straight on top of 4 players.

"NO!" I hear Kyrien yell, and he does the same attack he did with the door, which pushes Merano a few meters back.

Kyrien quickly looks at the four crushed souls for a moment, as a few of us watch them shatter into a million pieces and then just disappear, as the wind blows the pieces all around the place.

I can see tears form in Kyrien's eyes as I run alongside him to attack the arm.

We both dodge a swipe in coordination and I grab both my blades and stick it at the top of the arm as hard as I can.

A claw comes to jab at me but just barely misses. A sword or any sharp item into your body is instant death in Mysteria. I'm lucky to be alive.

With no weapons in my hand I run at the wall.

I can see Aria looking at me like I'm an idiot.

I'm the only person running towards a wall right now, but when I reach it, I don't slam into it, I run on it.

I catch Aria's grin and continue running up the long chamber walls, I can feel my legs almost give in. I guess I didn't level the 'Wallrun' skill too high. When I reach the peak of my run, I jump straight onto the head of Merano, and almost fall over. I pull onto a bunch of furs and slide along the head to the top of the neck, where I grab a shoulder and hoist myself up. Once again, I hear gasps from the hectic groups of players. It is an RPG isn't it?

I can feel Merano shaking his head hard, trying to force me off, but I have an iron grip, and Merano just seems more pissed off that I'm there, so he starts smashing his giant glowing blade everywhere. I nearly lose balance, but stay put.

The view from here is gory and brutal, six more players pass away in front of me, each one enraging Kyrien more and more, until he deals significant damage to the boss.

I see the boss's health bar go to a critical dark red color. The color of Aria's hood. I've been holding on to Merano's neck for some time now, and I wonder whether he forgot I was there.

Kyrien is ready to go for the killing blow, and I see him grab his spear and run towards the beast.

-BOOM-

Kyrien is blasted back all the way to the door, his back hits the door, hard, and a grotesque sound comes from the impact, as if he broke his spine. Ouch.

Still, he gets up as normal and looks confusedly at the monster, we all do.

"Look! It's a reflective shield!" I hear Aria say from down below.

She's so small from up here, I think to myself.

"What the hell! Dammit!" An enraged guild member throws his metallic hammer at the boss, and it goes through the protective shield and hits Merano right in the nose, or whatever deformed nose the boss has.

Multiple swipes of the large blade are set in the direction of the hammer wielding guild member, but all the players cooperatively dodge all the attacks of Merano. The shield does not vanish.

Next thing I know all the players and throwing their weapons at Merano's head through the shield. They can't attack, but they throw. Even though there's no ranged classes, the minimum damage you have when throwing a weapon may be enough to kill the beast. In a few hours.

I'm glad all the swords being tossed at the boss's head haven't hit me.

A great idea comes to mind, and I start yelling for Aria.

"THROW ME YOUR SWORD ARIA!"

"WHAT?!" she yells back.

Damn. I thought her hearing skill was better than this.

I gesture towards the sword and she immediately gets what I mean. She tosses it high enough and I grasp the blade side of the sword. My hands cut deeply and my HP drops below half. I jump straight off the shoulder and take the blade by the hilt and shove it as far into Merano's one open eye as I can, and I see his health drop to somewhere near below 1%, but he still lives. I'm hanging high up in the air now, with half my HP bar empty, and no place to 'run'.

I hang onto the hilt for dear life, but it starts shaking, and loosening. I sense fear in my eyes. I panic, I yell. I don't know if anyone can even hear me this high up. I am maybe 70 feet up in the air, and with only half a health bar… I didn't want to think about it any longer.

Then I lost my grip.

The sword fell out of Merano's eye and is now falling with me, straight above me. I have a second to think, and I don't know what about, but I close my eyes as I fall, with the blade about to fall over me and pierce me through the chest. At least I killed the boss for them.

The air is blown out of me. A hard knock to the side of my probably broken ribs make me open my eyes. I am alive. I'm in such terrible pain, but I'm alive. I look to my side to see who's holding me, who could've caught me midair? No way.

I see turquoise eyes. I see Aria.

"You aren't dying on me today" she says softly, as I lose consciousness.

* * *

 **Guys, Kenza's weapon is stuck in Merano's arms, that's why he yelled for Aria's sword. I hope you enjoyed the fifth chapter of Mysteria Online. Please comment, and review, any feedback is welcome. Thank you - Ricky**


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